The Rev. Seiichi Michael Yasutake is pictured with his sister Mitsuye
Yamada at the Episcopal Peace Fellowship awards dinner Monday where he was awarded the John Nevin Sayre Award "for courageous witness
in the cause of peace and justice."

photo/DICK SNYDER

The Rev. Seiichi Michael Yasutake witnessed WorldWar II frombehind the fence
of a U.S. detention camp for Japanese and was later expelled from the University of Cincinnati when he refused to take a loyalty oath to
the United States. His stance earned him the John Nevin Sayre Award "for courageous witness in the cause of peace and justice" at the Episcopal
Peace Fellowship awards dinner Monday night.

"My pacifism, anti-war and anti-militarism [beliefs] . . . derive from my
experience with the Second World War, especially as [a] war between the land of my ancestry, Japan, and the country of my birth, the United
States," Yasutake, 79, told the gathering.

Yasutake said he marveled at how God has taught him "the meaning of justice
and peace in the midst of conflicts -especially conflicts between races and nations" especially as a non-white, whose country was, at
one time, the enemy of this nation. "I believe . . . all of us are affected very personally by what's going on in the big wide world,"
he added.

Yasutake "raised hell appropriately" during the turbulent 1960s and 1970s,
recounted the Rev. David Selzer, chair of EPF's National Executive Council. Since 1983, Yasutake has been executive director of the Interfaith
Prisoners of Conscience Project, whose efforts helped secure the 1999 release of 11 Puerto Rican prisoners who had joined the struggle
for Puerto Rico's independence.

In today's world, Yasutake said, "There's a rise in hope for self-determination
and sovereignty." But conflicts also arise over related issues, such as the U.S. naval bombing in Puerto Rico, he said. Such conflict
"in a way is necessary," he said. "If you're going to do anything good, you're going to have to confront oppression."

Started as the Episcopal Pacifist Fellowship to support World War II conscientious
objectors, EPF was the "groundbreaker" for theEpiscopalChurch establishing a peace commission and has expanded to oppose all forms of
violence, said John Michael Sophos, the Fellowship's newsletter editor. "It's holding up a standard for the church that there can be no
peace without justice and remindingthechurch of ourbaptismalvows, particularly the dignity of every human being."

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